Ogden Standard-Examiner | 1921-01-03 | Page 4 | Henry Walthall Holds Interest of Audience in Ibsen's "Ghosts"

vv Henry Walthall Holds Interest of Audience in Ibsen's "Ghosts" Appearing In "Ghosts." intensely ln-tereeting ln-tereeting family drama by Hem-Ik Ibsen, nt tho 1 irplieum theatre last aveniotv Hanrj B WaJthalL a com-m&ndins com-m&ndins fiBure on the 1 egitlmate stage and tnoro familiar to theatregoers theatre-goers for his work on the screen, dii-plsyed dii-plsyed to an Ogden audience the depth of his emotional attainments. Tbe drama la based on the familiar riuotatlon that the Mil rif the fathers arr- visited 'n their ehlldren. As Oswald Os-wald AJvinK. the only son. who returns re-turns homo after an absence since Childhood, Mr. Walthall brought honn this truth with erushlng force. The action takes place In Mrs. Al-vlng's Al-vlng's eountrv home near one of the lnrj-'e fiords In western N'orwav. It begins with the return of the son from Paris where hS has been studying painting. His mother, a widow Ol ni.'n. has erected an orphanage on the estate In honor of her husband and Pastor Manders. an old friend, '1 portrayed by Arthur Rutledge, come; I to arrange the details. It gradually i unfolded that the married life of i Mrs. Alvlng has been one of hurror j and that the profligate life of her 1 late husband h:cs been hidden from t ti . wi.i Id, After a year of It. she fled 1 to I'astor Manders and offered herself her-self to him but was sent back to hei ! home. The details he learns vvher j the pastor reproaches her for lack j of motherly feeling toward the boy , Then t is brought out that a life ol , excesses ends with a scandal in which tho housemaid la concerned The matter is hushed iid bv a pur-I pur-I chased marriage with tho maid's old I admirer. Jacob ICngstrnnd. a carpen-iter, carpen-iter, whose h point teal nature Is Weill ! brought out by William Clifford. Thi girl KTOWS Up and is known as Re-(glnu, Re-(glnu, BnkStT&pd'S daughter, and workf as a maid In the houeehold the character char-acter belnc taken bv Marv Charleson With the taint In his body, the son learns from a Paris specialist thai his mind Is alvtnK Way and believe: I this the result of his own wavward-I wavward-I neas. He looks toward Reglnr;i. no grown to beautiful womanhood, at I the one who can save him from menial men-ial wreck. The revelation comes aftei j the orphanage, which was to hav . been dedicated the following day, burns. This 1:: regarded as an act of enraged Providence. I'pon I earn In 8 the stunning truth, Reglnra tauius them and leaves determined to get hii fling of the bright lights. The son's-mind son's-mind begins to wander Ho had previ- ously enacted a promise from his mother to give him poison if this should happen. There the play ends. A3 Mrs. Alvmg, the mother. Elizabeth Eliza-beth DeWltt Is given credit for hand-I hand-I ling a decplv emotional role In a ! fully capablo manner. Walthall hlm-1 hlm-1 self carried his part in masterly I I fashion, and indeed the whole per- formanco was so realistic that the audience sat almost breathless as the tragedy of tho northland was un-I un-I folded. I rui " -